A Purrfect Beginning
by CillaT
Summary: He's back! And this time, with his light ginger fur coat drenched in rain. Elizabeth leaped up from her seat where she was enjoying a cup of warm coffee and quickly ushered him in from the glass window. He climbed in with elegance and grace as if he hadn't just been out roaming the streets in the cold, pouring rain. Just another P&P modern one-shot.


This idea hit me out of nowhere and just begged to be written out! Beta credit: badwolfoncer on tumblr. Hope you like this story. Don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think! :)

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 **A Purrfect Beginning**

He's back! And this time, with his light ginger fur coat drenched in rain.

Elizabeth leaped up from her seat where she was enjoying a cup of warm coffee and quickly ushered him in from the glass window. He climbed in with elegance and grace as if he hadn't just been out roaming the streets in the cold, pouring rain. He circled the seat twice, frenziedly shook some water droplets off his fur coat, and then settled himself comfortably into his usual position on her cream couch, beside her golden retriever, Lola, whose golden fur camouflaged his ginger one.

She didn't mind the ginger tabby in the least. He had become a somewhat regular and most welcomed visitor to her lonely flat, with only Lola to give her company, in the last two weeks or so.

Elizabeth, who routinely volunteers at a pet shelter near her flat, was in the final year of her Fine Arts degree in the University of Oxford. She discovered her love for animals when her dad, Thomas Bennet, brought home a grey, sickly and drenched kitten from the streets on the night of her fifth birthday. She had gone with her dad when they brought the kitten to the vet the next morning, but it had been too weak to live.

"Where's your owner, Ginger? I bet she must be missing you very much." Elizabeth cooed, as she knelt beside Lola and the ginger tabby, stroking both of their furs. She wondered, not for the first time, where the cat's owner was, and who on earth she was.

She had decided, last week, to call the tabby Ginger, for obvious reasons.

She doubted that the tabby is a stray, for he seemed quite well fed, and his fur was always impeccably clean. Well, except this time.

Leaving the two to their own devices, Elizabeth walked into the kitchen, finished her cup of now cool coffee, and focused her attention back to her current assignment – an extended essay on the history and theory of visual culture since 1900, which was part of her final exam.

About three hours later, Elizabeth was startled from her musings by two faint knocks on her door. She stole a quick glance at the clock hanging on her wall while walking to the door – 11:13pm. Why would anyone come up to her place without prior notice at such a late hour? Then the thought hit her. It must be Ginger's owner! She must be worried sick for her tabby!

As Elizabeth threw open her door, she felt her jaws go slack as her eyes were met with a beautiful piece of masculinity. She surveyed the stranger from bottom to top in one slow motion sweep. He was wearing wet khaki trousers that were clinging onto his form, both of his hands were shoved into the pockets of his unbuttoned, dark navy coat that was dripping. She wondered what was underneath that white shirt of his. Elizabeth's tongue darted out to wet her lips.

Then their eyes met. Deep blue meeting vibrant green.

Suddenly remembering her manners, Elizabeth flushed an embarrassing shade of red and wordlessly gestured for the man to enter her flat, then locked the door behind him.

"Hi–" they both said at the same time, and Elizabeth blushed again, while he chuckled.

"Ladies first," he said, and indicated for her to continue. But she couldn't, for she was extremely distracted by something slightly above his blue eyes, which she was staring most intently at. A lose curl of dark and wet hair. Elizabeth was so tempted to smooth the curl back into its place that she had unknowingly reached a hand out to touch it. But as soon as the tip of her fingers grazed his forehead (and a spark ignited), Elizabeth retracted her hand and held it behind her back, diverting her gaze onto the floor. Her face was, once again, turned pink with mortification.

"Sorry," she muttered, then laughed awkwardly as she shuffled her feet.

"It's fine," he replied, his throat emitting that deep chuckle again.

"Um… Have you, by any chance, seen my cat? A ginger tabby?" he asked after a slight pause.

"Oh!" It never occurred to Elizabeth that the owner of the ginger tabby could be a bloke. And most definitely not such a gorgeous hunk of a man! "Yes, I have! Ginger's lounging on the couch with Lola. Um, wait here, I'll go get him." And with that, Elizabeth scrambled off into her tiny and messy living room, leaving the gorgeous man behind her, hovering by the door.

"Shit. Shit. Shit!" Elizabeth cursed under her breath as she walked towards Lola and Ginger. "What the hell did you think you were doing!? Ugh, you obviously weren't thinking. What an idiot. He probably thinks you're a creep now. You don't even know his name, for goodness sake!" She groaned as she picked up Ginger who was curled-up most comfortably against a dosing Lola.

 _Lola?_ Will Darcy wondered, as he watched the girl with one of the most beautiful pair of eyes disappear into a right turn in the dimly lit corridor.

Truth to be told, he was just as discomfited by her as she was by him, if her repeated blushes were any indication.

He had just got home from a stressful and taxing day at work in his Law firm in the city an hour ago to a wailing Gigi telling him that their new cat, Cody, had gone missing, yet again. But this time, he had been gone for more than two hours, in the pouring rain, and at night! He tried to make his baby sister go to bed and tried reassuring her that their cat will be back by the time she was off to school in the morning, but she wouldn't listen. Her baby sitter, Caroline, kept on apologising to him (and, to Will's utter disdain, mentally undressing him) while trying to stop Gigi from crying. Will was thus left with no choice but to head out and search for their cat. At half past ten at night, no less.

He had already knocked on more than twenty doors, been screamed and cursed at for interrupting sleep – or sex – countless times, when he knocked on her door. He had been preparing himself for another try of his patience when the door flew open and he was greeted by a most delightful sight. He couldn't help himself when his eyes started drinking in the beautifully dishevelled woman in front of him.

All of his tiredness and weariness flew out of the window, along with his usual shy and reticent demeanour. He had no idea how she could have discomposed him so: diminishing him from the usual collected and taciturn man he was into a tongue-tied teenage boy speaking to his first crush.

She was barefoot, clad in a pair of comfortable grey shorts and an oversized light purple sweater that hung off her left shoulder. Her unruly brown curls were pulled up into a messy bun that was piled on top of her head, with a pencil stuck in between one ear. And her eyes, good Lord, her eyes, were of the most brilliant green he had ever seen.

When their eyes locked, it had seemed as if all the air in the room had been sucked out and they were both left breathless. They stood staring into each other's eyes for a minute, motionless and unblinking, till she snapped out of her trance first and welcomed him into her apartment with a most becoming scarlet blush.

He mentally made a note to himself to thank Gigi for forcing him to go look for Cody tonight.

Will was snapped out of his thoughts when the subject of his musing came walking back towards him with Cody snuggled cosily in her arm. Trailing behind her was a golden retriever who paused for a yawn, before catching up with its owner. _Ah, Lola._

"I'm so sorry about Cody; I hope he hasn't been a bother. He's new to our place, we only got him two weeks ago and he's already snuck out for the sixth time."

 _Our? We?_ Elizabeth's heart sank a little, all the while mentally scolding herself for being so silly.

"Oh no, it's been a pleasure having Gin– I mean Cody– here. He's a very welcomed guest, I can assure you, and Lola," gesturing to her dog that was sniffing at Will's leg at that moment with a wagging tail, "can attest to it." She said, smiling at him warmly, while handing over the ginger tabby.

"I hope you don't mind Lola, she's extremely friendly," she continued, crouching down to ruffle the golden retriever's smooth fur. Then standing back up suddenly with green eyes twinkling, she exclaimed, "Cody must have been here all six times he snuck out of your place!"

"He has? Oh, good– I mean– I'm sorry that he disturbed you, but Gigi will be so relieved when she hears it. She wouldn't stop crying when she realised Cody had gone missing again tonight!"

 _Oh dear, a daughter? This was worse than I thought._

"Well, you better get back to your daughter quickly then," she said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, "she must be worried about you too."

Puzzled that she would want to be rid of him so quickly, Will suddenly realised her misunderstanding and grinned. "Gigi isn't my daughter, she's my baby sister." He chuckled, dimples peeking out from both sides of his cheeks.

Elizabeth thought her heart would melt at that deep, throaty sound and his drop-dead gorgeous dimples. She had always had a thing for men with dimples.

"Ah," she giggled, blushing furiously again, while inwardly chastising herself, "sorry about that."

"It's all right. Um, I'm William Darcy, call me Will," he said, holding out one hand while the other held onto a purring Cody.

"Elizabeth Bennet. Lizzy," she replied, sliding her smaller hand into his larger and warmer one. Then to her (very pleasant) surprise, rather than shaking it, he took her hand and gently placed a feather-like kiss on its back, both feeling the spark that was once again ignited with the touch. They held each other's gazes (and hands), smiling like the love-struck fools that they were.

Their hands fit perfectly. Hers soft and slender, his firm yet gentle. Will briefly wondered how it would feel to have Elizabeth Bennet tucked against his body.

He had a feeling that her slim, 5'3" frame would fit perfectly against his broad, 5'11" one too.

"It's really nice to meet you, Elizabeth. Can I take you out for a drink? To… um… thank you for Cody?"

Her sweet, joyful laughter filled his heart, "I'd love that, Will."

(Our end, their beginning.)


End file.
